Director Woody Allen engaged in analysis for decades and once commented, “People used to say ‘You’re using psychoanalysis as a crutch.’ And I would say, ‘Yes. You’re hitting it exactly on the nose. I’m using it as a crutch.’”

He also said that psychiatrists helped him through difficult times and isolation: “It got me through periods of my life when I was very unhappy and was insecure. Just the act of having someone to speak to, someone interested in my problems in some way was helpful to me.”

Another article notes Woody Allen is a “filmmaker, screenwriter, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author and playwright. He fought his depression through the use of humor, which is a trend in many of his films.

“To help him manage his depression, Allen underwent psychoanalysis for a stretch of 30 years. Allen stopped, then turned to clinical therapy for his depression and following his sixth marriage to wife Soon-Yi Previn, he ended his depression treatment.”

Other performers and artists who have experienced depression include Edna St. Vincent Millay, Marie Osmond, Lorraine Bracco, Alanis Morissette and others – see my post Depression and creative people.

In a Wall Street Journal article, Allen comments about creative work as therapy, and pleasure:

“You know in a mental institution they sometimes give a person some clay or some basket weaving?” he said. “It’s the therapy of moviemaking that has been good in my life. If you don’t work, it’s unhealthy—for me, particularly unhealthy.

“I could sit here suffering from morbid introspection, ruing my mortality, being anxious. But it’s very therapeutic to get up and think, Can I get this actor; does my third act work? All these solvable problems that are delightful puzzles, as opposed to the great puzzles of life that are unsolvable, or that have very bad solutions. So I get pleasure from doing this. It’s my version of basket weaving.”

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Writers, psychologists and people who have experienced mood disorders talk about depression, bipolar, hypomania and anxiety - which often accompanies depression. Also included are self help resources to understand and help overcome depression.

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Site author: Douglas Eby, M.A./Psychology, is a writer and researcher on the psychology of creative expression and personal growth, especially for high ability adults. He is publisher of the Talent Development Resources series of sites.